Review of Kalahari Resort, Sandusky Ohio

My family and I just got back a couple of weeks ago from Kalahari Resort, in Sandusky Ohio. Kalahari was nice enough to offer us a one night stay, and I am so glad we went, it was a blast. My boys are 1 and 3, and they had the time of their lives splashing around the country's largest indoor waterpark.

Our room there was fantastic, and plenty big enough for the four of us. We had two queen beds, plus a pull-out couch. There was a table and chairs, a fireplace, flatscreen TV, refrigerator refrigerator microwave, balcony with seating, and more.

The resort itself was super kid friendly, with lots of shops, restaurants, a giant arcade, miniature golf, a large indoor playground, a spa, stuff for grownups and of course the waterpark. In the summer they also have an outdoor adventure park, animal park, and more.

The waterpark itself is the central attraction for a reason. Relax in your own private indoor cabana and enjoy a security safe, refrigerator, chaise lounges and table. Stand up surf or boogie board 365 days a year on one of two FlowRiders®.

Catch some rays under the Texlon transparent roof while enjoying the 12,000 sq. ft. wavepool! Experience the thrill of the Swahili Swirl 60' diameter bowl raft ride, Zip Coaster uphill water rollercoaster waterslide, Cheetah Race 4 lane mat slides, Rippling Rhino and Victoria Falls raft rides, lazy river, indoor/indoor spas, swim up bar and MUCH more!

No matter what the weather is like outside, you can splish splash all day long indoors at Kalahari.

I wouldn't hesitate for a second to vacation here again. Check out their specials and packages here. Check out their rates and availability here.

Note: Kalahari gave us a complimentary one night stay in exchange for a review. Please note that we were not paid, and this review is honest and sincere.

Water Surface Tension

Man that is cool. We used to have a big field behind my childhood home, and at the edge of the field was a stream. There were these little bugs that would walk on top of the water, we called them water skeeters. I guess they are also called water striders, water bugs, magic bugs, pond skaters, skaters, skimmers, water scooters, water skaters, water skimmers, water skippers, water spiders, or Jesus bugs. Anyway, this picture reminds me of that good childhood memory.

Source

Men are Six Times More Likely to be Struck by Lightning

It's funny because my wife is going to strangle me.

Back to the Future Cast

Back to the present? She got sort of hot didn't she? Anyway, here is the cast of "Back to the Future," all grown up.

Sunlight Through Trees

Found this cool photo of sunlight streaming through trees.

I Must Ask You a Question

I wish I could grow a sweet 'stache. I just end up looking like a creeper.

I Found Myself as a Parent

It's funny because it's true. My son is a little clone.

Merry Christmas!

I think this just about covers it. Merry Christmas to you all, dear friends.

Source

My Christmas Card

I could have gone to Sears and had my picture taken so that I could give you all a delightful Christmas card, but how could I beat this? No, I think a picture of a dude with his cat sums it up perfectly. Merry Christmas, and happy holidays to you all! Meow...

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Christmas Dinner with Hitler

Via

Some New Polls

Would you rather fall down every staircase or slam hand in every door?

Have your life narrated by Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones?

Would you rather work your dream job for no pay, and live off of welfare OR sit in a completely empty white room from 8-5, Mon-Fri, for $5 million a year?

Would you rather smell a fart all day, every day, that no one else could smell OR have everyone think you smell like a fart, but you don't smell it.

Would you rather wipe with sand paper or saran wrap?

Things that Make Chuck Norris Smile

Chuck Norris does not smile. He flexes his teeth. Here are 13 things that make Chuck Norris "smile:"

Costco

Chess

Military jackets

Ropes

Framed things

Boots

Pepsi

Books



Invading personal space



Turtlenecks

Sad people

Chest hair

Glamor shots

More interesting facts about Chuck Norris' smile:

Chuck Norris doesn't smile, the corners of his mouth run upwards away from his fists.
Chuck Norris doesn't smile, his mouth smiles for him
Chuck Norris' smile once brought a puppy back to life.
When ever Chuck Norris smile he blinds people with pure awesomeness.
It takes 14 puppeteers to make Chuck Norris smile, but only 2 to make him destroy an orphanage.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Snowfall on a Blue Lake

From National Geographic:

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12 Facts About "A Christmas Story" You Didn't Know

I love the movie "A Christmas Story." Who doesn't? Even people that don't celebrate Christmas love the movie. I was going to put together a list of little known facts, but then I saw that Mental Floss had already done so. Why work when you can simply leech off other people. Der. Also, what ever happened to Ralphie? Anywho, here are 12 facts about "The Christmas Story" you didn't know, because you are dumb:

1. Jack Nicholson was very interested in playing Ralphie’s dad. But casting (and paying) Jack would have meant doubling the budget, so he was removed from consideration. Director Bob Clark – who didn’t know Nicholson was interested at the time – says Darrin McGavin was the perfect choice, and I’d have to agree. I think Jack would have been too much of a scene-stealer.

2. What does Porky’s, the raunchy ’80s teen sex movie, have to do with a wholesome film like A Christmas Story? Bob Clark directed both – Porky’s in 1982 and A Christmas Story in 1983. If Porky’s hadn’t given him the professional and financial success he needed, he wouldn’t have been able to bring A Christmas Story to the big screen.

3. For anyone keeping count, Ralphie says he wants the Red Ryder BB Gun 28 times throughout the course of the movie. That’s approximately once every three minutes and 20 seconds.

4. Peter Billingsley, AKA Ralphie, has been good friends with Vince Vaughn since they both appeared in the CBS Schoolbreak Special (their version of the after-school special) in the early ’90s. He doesn’t do much acting these days, but he did make a surprise appearance on the “Vince Vaughn Wild West Comedy Show” in Memphis, Tenn., in 2005. Peter’s doing quite well for himself, though. He was the executive producer of Iron Man and had a brief bit as William Ginter Riva – I’ve seen Iron Man twice, but I can’t place his character. I’ll have to go back and look. Peter also executive produced Vince’s latest movie, Four Christmases (which he also had a cameo in), as well as 2006’s The Break-Up.

5. Mythbusters tested whether it was possible to get your tongue truly stuck on a piece of cold metal. Guess what? It is. So don’t triple dog dare your best friend to try it.

6. Scott Schwartz, who played Flick (who stuck his tongue to the frozen flagpole), was submerged in the adult film industry for a number of years. He got out in 2000 to try to become a mainstream actor again, but I can’t say he’s done much of note: Community College (“A love story between four dudes and their ability to get free drinks”) and Skinwalker, which starred ex-MTV veejay Jesse Camp, if that tells you anything. Joey Buttafuoco is in it, too, and gets billing over our poor Flick. Sad.

7. Next time you’re in Cleveland, you can visit the original house from the movie for only $7.50. It was sold on eBay in 2004 for $150,000. Collector Brian Jones bought the house and restored it to its movie glory and stocked it up with some of the original props from the film, including Randy’s snowsuit.

8. Director Bob Clark got the idea for the movie when he was driving in the car with a date. He heard Jean Shepherd on the radio doing a reading of his short story collection, “In God We Trust… All Others Pay Cash,” which included some bits that eventually ended up in A Christmas Story. Clark said he drove around the block for an hour until the program ended, which his date was not too happy about.

9. The Wonder Years was inspired by A Christmas Story. In fact, in one of the last few episodes, Peter Billingsley appeared as one of Kevin Arnold’s roommates.

10. The real Red Ryder BB Gun was first made in 1938 and was named after a comic strip cowboy. You can still buy it today for the low, low price of $44.99. But the original wasn’t quite the same as the one in the movie – it lacked the compass and sundial that both the Jean Shepard story and the movie call for. Special versions had to be made just for A Christmas Story.

11. While we’re talking shopping – you know you want the leg lamp. Put it in your window! Be the envy of your neighbors! It’s a Major Award! You can buy it here, but if you’re not feeling quite so flamboyant you can get a replica that serves as a nightlight for $14.99. The people who own the house also run a gift shop, and they sell pretty much everything you could possibly want from the movie – the decoder pin ($7.99), Lifebuoy soap ($3.99), the leg lamp variants mentioned above, and even pieces of the original house.

12. There’s a sequel of sorts, My Summer Story, which came out in 1994. Kieran Culkin plays Ralphie, Mary Steenburgen is his mom, and Charles Grodin is his dad. I’m not sure if it’s because of this movie or A Christmas Story, but whenever our dogs are running around together in a pack, my husband always yells, “It’s the Bumpus Hounds!”

Source Mental Floss

Painters on the Cables of the Brooklyn Bridge - 1914

Painters on the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge, October 7, 1914.

12 Types of Christmas Shoppers

Nifty Links

Guy takes his friends Facebook pictures, alters them slightly, then replaces the original.

A homemade Porsche

35 simple inventions really are brilliant

Timeline sucks. Facebook changes that people actually want

A parody of the Homeland Security website

Making fun of hipsters

Possible cure for cancer?

The Most Popular Christmas Toys Since 1981

Check out this list of the most popular Christmas toys since 1981 that I found on Bits and Pieces. Oh POGS, how I loved collecting them, even though I had no idea how to play with them.

Best Napoleon Dynamite Quotes

If you don't find Napoleon Dynamite funny, then you and I probably don't share the same sense of humor. Oh well, forget you. Here are some of these best quotes from the movie Napoleon Dynamite:

Napoleon Dynamite: Stay home and eat all the freakin' chips, Kip.
Kip: Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
Napoleon Dynamite: Since when, Kip? You have the worst reflexes of all time.
Kip: Try and hit me, Napoleon.
Napoleon Dynamite: What?
Kip: I said come down here and see what happens if you try and hit me.

Don: Hey, Napoleon. What did you do last summer again?
Napoleon Dynamite: I told you! I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!
Don: Did you shoot any?
Napoleon Dynamite: Yes, like 50 of 'em! They kept trying to attack my cousins, what the heck would you do in a situation like that?
Don: What kind of gun did you use?
Napoleon Dynamite: A freakin' 12-gauge, what do you think?

Napoleon Dynamite: [referring to Deb's milk] I see you're drinking 1%. Is that 'cause you think you're fat? 'Cause you're not. You could be drinking whole if you wanted to.

Napoleon Dynamite: Do the chickens have large talons?
Farmer: Do they have what?
Napoleon Dynamite: Large talons.
Farmer: I don't understand a word you just said.

Deb: I'm trying to earn money for college.
Kip: [from the background] Your mom goes to college.

Napoleon Dynamite: Is grandma there?
Kip: No, she's getting her hair done.
Napoleon Dynamite: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
Kip: What do you need?
Napoleon Dynamite: Can you just go get her for me?
Kip: I'm really busy right now.
Napoleon Dynamite: Just tell her to come get me.
Kip: Why?
Napoleon Dynamite: Cause I don't feel good!
Kip: Well, have you talked to the school nurse?
Napoleon Dynamite: No, she doesn't know anything. Will you just come get me?
Kip: No.
Napoleon Dynamite: Well, will you do me a favor then? Can you bring me my chapstick?
Kip: No, Napoleon.
Napoleon Dynamite: But my lips hurt real bad!
Kip: Just borrow some from the school nurse. I know she has like five sticks in her drawer.
Napoleon Dynamite: I'm not gonna use hers, you sicko!
Kip: See ya.
[Kip hangs up]
Napoleon Dynamite: Uh! Idiot!

Teacher: Your current event, Napoleon.
Napoleon Dynamite: Last week, Japanese scientists explaced... placed explosive detonators at the bottom of Lake Loch Ness to blow Nessie out of the water. Sir Cort Godfrey of the Nessie Alliance summoned the help of Scotland's local wizards to cast a protective spell over the lake and its local residents and all those who seek for the peaceful existence of our underwater ally.

Baby Do's and Dont's

I think this is a valuable bit of information for all parents and parents to be out there. Check out these baby do's and dont's.

Source

31 Unique & Strange Mailboxes

Boring old mailboxes are for losers. These awesome mailboxes are for winners. Check out these unique and strange mailboxes:

This is what happens when you don't wear sunscreen.

This one is pretty cool, if you are a hobbit that lives in the Shire.

Now that is some handywork I think we can all appreciate.

Pretty cool how he is just casually holding the mailbox under his arm.

15 Cool Coffee Tables

So for those of you that are anything like me, you might never have heard of a coffee table. A table made out of coffee? What the? Well, Wikipedia says: A coffee table, also called a cocktail table, is a style of long, low table which is designed to be placed in front of a sofa, to support beverages, magazines, books, and other small items to be used while sitting, such as beverage coasters. Oh! They must be referring to the milk crates I set my Yoo-Hoo on while I watch Jersey Shore. Anyway, here are 15 cool coffee tables.

A moss table

Aliens

You can play video games on this one

Cleaning Carpets with Shaving Cream

Did you know you can use shaving cream (foam) to clean stains out of carpets? Either did I.

My son spilled red punch all over the carpet. It looked like the mat of the boxing ring on Rocky IV. I went to get some carpet cleaner, only to find it empty. My wife mentioned that she heard you can use shaving cream to clean carpets. Not the gel stuff, the actual shaving foam. Of course I didn't believe her. I tore off her pants, set them on fire, and hung them off a telephone wire.

Once she posted bail, I came back home and tried the shaving cream on the stain. Low and behold, it worked! This was bright red punch, but it came right out. I sprayed it on, waited 30 seconds, and then scrubbed. I repeated this one more time, and it was gone. Awesome. Cheap. Awesome and cheap.

I suppose if the stain was really bad, you could let it set for like 15 minutes before blotting it out, or scrubbing.

Slings and Slingshots - Facts and History

What is a sling?:


A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone. It is also known as the shepherd's sling.

A sling has a small cradle or pouch in the middle of two lengths of cord. The sling stone is placed in the pouch. Both cords are held in the hand, then the sling is swung and one of the two cords is released. This frees the projectile to fly on a tangent to the circle made by the pouch's rotation. The sling derives its effectiveness by essentially extending the length of a human arm, thus allowing stones to be thrown several times farther than they could be by hand

The sling is very inexpensive, and easy to build. It has historically been used for hunting game and in combat. Today it still interests sportsmen as a survival tool and as an improvised weapon.


What is a slingshot?:

A slingshot (also sometimes called a shanghai, and in Britain a catapult or katty) is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The forked Y-shaped frame has two rubber strips attached to the uprights, leading back to a pocket for holding the projectile.

It is normally fired by holding the frame in the non-dominant hand, extended at arms length. The pocket is then gripped between thumb and forefinger of the dominant hand, pulled back to near the cheek, aimed and the pocket released to fire the projectile toward the target.

Home-made slingshots were a popular children's toy for much of the twentieth century.

Origins of the sling:

The sling is an ancient weapon, the origin of which is lost in antiquity. It is certain that slings were known to Neolithic peoples around the Mediterranean, but it seems likely that the sling is much older. It is quite possible that the sling was invented during the Upper Paleolithic at a time when new technologies, such as the atlatl and the bow and arrow, were emerging. With the exception of Australia, where spear throwing technology such as the woomera predominated, the sling became common all over the world, although it is not clear whether this occurred because of cultural diffusion or independent invention.


Origins of the slingshot:

The earliest types of slingshots were invented in Russia. In Russia its name is "rogatka", from the word "rog" (meaning "horn" in Russian). It's simply a smaller version of a similar but bigger weapon in Ancient Rus', named "rogatina". [Jack H. Koehler, Slingshot Shooting, Sling Publishing. isbn = 0-9765311-0-0]

The classic form of slingshot relies upon the availability of vulcanized rubber. The most common source of rubber was from the inner tubes of tires and so it seems unlikely that they were constructed before 1888. Once invented they became an archetypal boy's toy up until shortly after World War II. These were generally self-made from a forked tree branch and "red rubber" inner tubes. (Later inner tubes had carbon-black added, which made them much less elastic. Modern inner tubes use synthetic rubber and in fact quite a few tires are now tubeless).

Commercial versions were available from early on and in 1948 Wham-O had as their first product a slingshot, but the sophisticated modern models start with the first wrist-braced slingshot—the Saunders "Wrist-Rocket", in 1954.

Slings in combat:

It is clear that many ancient peoples used the sling in combat and that organised armies included specialist slingers as well as equipping regular soldiers with slings as a back up weapon. As a weapon, the sling had several clear advantages. In general, a sling bullet lobbed in a high trajectory can achieve ranges approaching 600m — significantly farther than what could be achieved by bows in any period, including the famed longbow. Arrows were typically loosed along relatively flat trajectories that seldom managed to send them beyond 100 meters. The current Guinness World Record distance of an object thrown with a sling stands at 477.0 m, set by David Engvall in 1992 using a metal dart. Larry Bray held the previous world record (1982), in which a 52 g stone was thrown 437.1 m. Modern authorities vary widely in their estimates of the effective range of ancient weapons and of course bows and arrows could also have been used to produce a long-range arcing trajectory, but ancient writers repeatedly stress the sling's advantage of range. The sling was light to carry and cheap to produce; ammunition in the form of stones was readily available and often to be found near the site of battle.

Caches of sling ammunition are frequently found at the sites of Iron Age hill forts of Europe. 40,000 sling stones were found at Maiden Castle in Southern England. It is proposed that Iron Age hill forts of Europe were designed to maximise the effectiveness of defending slingers.

The hilltop location of the wooden forts would have given the defending slingers the advantage of range over the attackers and multiple concentric ramparts, each higher than the other, would allow a large number of men to create a hailstorm of stone. Consistent with this, it has been noted that, generally, where the natural slope is steep, the defences are narrow and where the slope is less steep, the defences are wider.
How to use a sling:

For a conventional throw, one does not make multiple rotations of the sling, a proper slinging action requires just one rapid rotation. The more times you swing it, the less likely it is that you'll hit your target.

One makes an overhand throw, using the sling to extend one's arm. The motion is similar to bowling a cricket ball. This is relatively accurate, instinctive and quite powerful. One faces 60 degrees away from the target, with one's weak hand closest to the target. The coordinated motion is to move every part of the body, legs, waist, shoulders, arms, elbows and wrist in the direction of the target in order to add as much speed as possible to the stone. One releases the projectile near the top of the swing, where the projectile will proceed roughly parallel to the surface of the earth.

Another method of release said to be favoured by slingers firing into grouped or massed targets is an underhand throw. The motion is similar to that of throwing a softball. The trajectory arc is relatively high. The thrower stands 60 degrees away from the target, and takes one step forward from the trailing foot, letting the sling swing forward. Range is said to be increased with this method, sacrificing accuracy. Several historians have conjectured that this was the most commonly used method in ancient warfare due to its practicality.

There are also sideways releases, in which the swing goes around. These throws make it very easy to miss the target by releasing the projectile at a slightly wrong time. Other slinging methods can be seen, but many authorities deprecate them.

The clumsiest part of using a shepherd's sling is to regain control of the release cord. Conventionally, the loop of the retention cord is placed around a finger of the strong hand. Several projectiles may be held in the weak hand. After the release, an expert will continue the motion. The cradle will catch around a stone held out with the weak hand, so that the end of the release cord swings back to the strong hand retaining the loop. Just after the knot begins to swing, slightly before the knot reaches the strong hand, one drops or throws the projectile toward the ground with the weak hand, starting into the next release. Some people braid the end of the release cord around a weight to help perform this maneuver. With this method, a skillful user can throw an aimed stone every few seconds in a cyclic coordinated movement, until the weak hand is empty.

Modern slingshots:

Trumark
Saunders Archery
Barnett
Crosman
Marksman
Daisy
ComBow
Oddwing
Precision shots
Megaline Industries
Northern Sports
Haijiang Industries
TracPac
American tool exchange
Rhythm & Blues N&U
Leon & Cecilia de Lange
Weifang Zaoshi
Fetchboy
Toprun Enterprises
Bigwell Co., Ltd
Yonkang Feiyun
Stil crin
Advance Group
Bunnybuster

Historic slingshots:

A.S.C.
Barnett
Boler
Bullseye
Crosman
General Sports
Marksman
Milbro
Milligan
Nightstalker
Pocket Rocket
Saunders
Sharpshooter
Slingo
Tinker
Wham-O
Weber
WristRocket Co.
ZipZip

Rock Out Little Dudes

Don't know why, but the kid holding the cake creeps me out.

What Happend to Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story)?

Remember cute little Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) from the movie A Christmas Story? What ever happened to him? After the movie in 1983 he did some more acting. In 1984 Billingsley starred in an adaptation of The Hoboken Chicken Emergency with Dick Van Patten and Gabe Kaplan, a special Thanksgiving episode of the PBS series WonderWorks. He also appeared on a special edition of Family Feud and on the game show Celebrity Hot Potato.  

In the late 80s his acting career slowed. He was a guest star on Who's The Boss?, Punky Brewster, The Wonder Years, and Highway To Heaven, and appeared in the film The Dirt Bike Kid, Carly's Web, Russkies and Beverly Hills Brats. 

In the early 90s Billingsley played a would-be jock who gets hooked on steroids in the CBS Schoolbreak Special The Fourth Man. His next Schoolbreak Special appearance was in 1994's The Writing on the Wall, starring Hal Linden as a rabbi who teaches three boys about the horrors of intolerance after they are caught defacing his home, temple, and car with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti.

Also in the 90s he decided to start doing more work behind the scenes by producing, writing and directing. Known as Peter Michaelsen, he was assistant editor on the movie Knights. In 1994 Peter starred in, wrote, and directed (credited as Peter Billingsley) the short film The Sacred Fire, and credited as Peter Michaelsen in the executive producer function. Other behind the scenes work has included The Discovery Channel's A.R.K., The Adventures of Animal Rescue Kids, Patriot Son, The X Show, Made, and Elf, Dinner for Five Zathura, The Break-Up, and Iron Man; he also acted in the film, playing a scientist who works for Obadiah Stane. He also directed 2009's Couples Retreat.

Billingsley has also done a little acting recently in Sherman Oaks, Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare, Elf, L.A. Heat, Four Christmases and No Deposit, No Return.

Billingsley has recently written a musical adaptation of A Christmas Story that is scheduled to open in Seattle during the second week of December 2010.

Before he was in A Christmas story he did a bunch of commercials. Billingsley's first acting role was as a two-year-old in a Geritol commercial. He went on to star in about 120 television ads throughout the 1970s and early 80s.He was probably best known for a series of commercials for Hershey's chocolate syrup in which he portrayed the character Messy Marvin.

He also played in several films like If Ever I See You Again, Paternity, Honky Tonk Freeway, Death Valley, Massarati and the Brain, and the made-for-TV movie Memories Never Die.

Sources: 1 2